Pair who neglected mum paroled

After spending a year behind bars, a couple responsible for an appalling case of ill-treatment which left an elderly woman with open, untreated sores and mould growing on her body, are out of prison.

In October 2016, Terrence Peter Heppell and Erica Beth Heppell, were imprisoned for two years and nine months after pleading guilty to the ill treatment of Beatrice Emily Heppell. The victim is Terrence Heppell’s mother.

The case was described by the sentencing judge as appalling and that the victim, who is 93 and suffers from dementia, was entirely at their mercy.

In October 2014, Beatrice Heppell was found by ambulance staff lying in bed, the mattress and bedding soiled with her excrement.

She was in an extremely unkempt physical state with dried mucus around her eyes, mould growing under her breasts and had dirty skin and clothing. An ambulance officer who attended the callout retched because of the terrible smell.

This discovery came four and a half months after an occupational therapist had visited the Heppell house to see Beatrice and had made ‘‘repeated and urgent recommendations’’ to the couple to go to the doctors as the elderly woman appeared unwell.

After the October 2014 admission to hospital, staff catalogued a series of sores and wounds on Beatrice’s body, including the most serious, which was located near the woman’s sacrum and measured 11 centimetre by 8cm and was 4cm deep. She had also suffered a dislocated right shoulder.

In September this year, the Heppells appeared at separate hearings before the parole board.

Terrence Heppell’s lawyer told the panel the offending had been of a ‘‘very situation-specific nature’’ and his client was unlikely to reoffend so any risk which existed could be managed by release conditions, which are monitored by a probation officer.

In its report, the parole board said it accepted this submission but did highlight how the circumstances and consequences of the offending were ‘‘very severe’’.

It also noted any contact between Terrence Heppell and his mother, who lives in a rest home, would be supervised.

During Erica Heppell’s parole hearing, she told the board while she accepted many of the facts of the case, she felt the situation had been ‘‘exaggerated’’.

‘‘She was clear, however, that she had badly let down someone that she cared deeply about,’’ the report said.

It outlined Erica Heppell’s excellent behavioural record behind bars, including showing ‘‘diligence and enthusiasm’’ in her kitchen job.

The husband and wife were granted parole and left prison on October 2. They have returned to live at the Tikorangi, north Taranaki address where the offending took place.